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Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) has approved N1.8 billion (about $5million) for Doreo Partners to train 50,000 farmers in the Babangona Outgrower Farming Scheme in line with the Federal Government’s efforts to boost agriculture and reduce the economy’s dependence on oil exports. NSIA manages the Nigeria Sovereign Wealth Fund.   Alhaji Sanusi Lamido  Emir of Kano and Chairman, Doreo Partners Mr. Uche Orji, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NSIA, who disclosed this at the agreement signing ceremony in Lagos last weekend said the facility is a term loan with a two-year moratorium aimed at adding another 50,000 farmers by 2021 to the fast growing farming scheme. Babban Gona, which means “great farm” in Hausa, is an agricultural franchise, developed by Doreo Partners, a firm with a proven track record of exclusively investing in profitable, high growth, early stage businesses that improve the livelihoods of Nigerian smallholder farmers. Alhaj

Farmers in areas near Kisarazu City in Japan have deployed robot wolf on their farms to prevent their crops from being ravaged by wild animals. The robowolf, named “Super Monster Wolf,” emits terrifying sounds to scare animals, and sometimes humans, from straying into the farms.   Robowolf The farmers turned to technology after wolves went extinct in Japan in the early 1800s due to state-sponsored eradication campaign and populations of deer and wild boar rose sharply. The wild animals became a nuisance as they feasted on rice and chestnut crops. Following the resounding success of the first official trial of the immobile robowolf, the manufacturers have decided to commence mass production in April. The robot measures in at 65 centimetres in length, nearly the same size as an actual wolf. It also has tufts of hair and a set of white fangs. It uses solar-rechargeable batteries and detects intruders with infrared ray sensor. It has an effective radius of just about on

Governor Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi State has assured farmers in the state of adequate provision of more farming implement to boost agricultural activities.   Governor Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi State Bagudu made the assertion on Monday at Waziri Umaru Federal Polytechnics during the report presentation by Agricultural committee of 21 local governments in the state. He said the state government is ready to find solution to any problems that is associated with agriculture and food insecurity. The governor promised that the state would provide chemical, insecticides for famers to protect crops against rodents, Quellea birds and insects. “We have to focus on our attention to all farmers so that we can make optimal arrangement that can help farmers to produce more in the state.” Governor further disclosed that the state government has procured 10,000 metric tonnes of fertiliser for farmers and his administration is planning to distribute 300 tractors and 250 harvesters to far

The management of Landmark University, Omu-Aran in Kwara State, has approved free tuition for all its agriculture-related programmes in the institution. Prof. Adeniyi Olayanju, Vice-Chancellor of the university, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Omu-Aran that the approval would take effect from the 2018/2019 academic session. Olayanju said the approval was in respect of the tuition fees for the affected programmes, adding that the students were expected to pay other components of the school fees. According to him, the affected agriculture programmes are: Crop Science, Animal Science, Agriculture Extension and Rural Development, Agricultural Economics, Agribusiness Management, Environmental and Natural Resources Economics. Others are Aquaculture & Fisheries Management; Tourism and Recreation; Horticulture and Landscape Management and Agricultural Engineering. Olayanju said the institution, in its magnanimity, also approved the payment of the said

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has unveiled the Accelerated Agriculture Development Scheme (AADS) in a bid to reduce unemployment in the country and ensure food security for Nigerians.   Godwin Emefiele CBN Governor The scheme which was flagged-off in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) by Stanley Nzekwe, Secretary for Agriculture and Rural Development, is intended to engage a minimum of 10,000 unemployed young people in each of the 36 states in the federation and the FCT. Nzekwe who explained that the flag off was meant to sensitise FCT residents towards ensuring the success of the Scheme in the FCT, said “The AADS is a Federal Government special agricultural programme under the CBN which is expected to focus essentially on youths, in the 36 states of the Federation and the FCT, targeting a minimum of 10,000 young farmers per state.”   He said prospective farmers must be within the ages of 18 and 35 years and must belong to cooperative organizations. Farmers will also

Farmers in Nigeria are likely to experience bumper harvests at the end of this year’s wet season following the release of Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) 2018 Seasonal Rainfall Prediction (SRP) which indicates that normal rainfall will persist across the country. Sen. Hadi Sirika, Minister of State, Aviation, who disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday at the official presentation of the SRP report, explained that the expectation for this year is a normal length of season with normal rainfall amounts in most parts of the country. The report entitled, "seasonal climate forecasting for sustainable development" and presented by the Prof. Sani Mashi, Director-General, NiMet, noted that this year’s rainfall "shouldn't present any major threat to agriculture." Giving specifics on the predictions, Mashi said: "The earliest onset date is expected to be from March 1 around the coastal region of the South-South. The onset date changes as we mov

The world talks a lot about the digital revolution, but few connect it to the coming agriculture revolution, especially in Africa. Digital solutions have huge potential for helping farmers boost productivity and connect to financial tools and markets around the world. Farming in the plains of northern Nigeria around Abuja requires tedious manual labor because of the lack of farm machinery. A few days of tractor use for farmers in this region could improve productivity by 20 to 40 times. However, farmers cannot afford to buy a tractor in remote rural areas of Africa. Jehiel Oliver, founder of Hello Tractor, thought that an Uber-like tractor service might be a solution. “Our booking system allows farmers to conveniently request, schedule, and prepay for tractor services from nearby smart tractor owners, through text messaging and mobile money. Once service is completed, the prepayment is automatically released to the smart tractor owner,” explains Oliver. His smart two-wheel t

Despite Federal Government's claim that food production has increased across the country, the 2017 wet season National Agricultural performance survey report has shown that the overall farm yield is still below global and African average for the agricultural subsector. The study highlighted challenges that affected food production during the 2017 wet season farming to include: climate change, absence of government input support, insecurity, kidnapping, poor support for agricultural extension. The study carried out by the National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS) of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development noted that the constraints affected all the subsector of agriculture including crops, livestock, fisheries, aquaculture, and agro forestry value chain. The report which was launched recently in Abuja noted that although there was increase in land area for food production, it only resulted in 35 per cent increase in l

AFEX Commodities Exchange, the only private commodity exchange in Nigeria, recently launched the hashtag #CodeCashCrop at the CoCreation Hub in Yaba, Lagos. According to Ayodeji Balogun, Country Manager of AFEX Commodity Exchange, #CodeCashCrop is designed to help participants get practical insights into developing for or investing in agriculture and also “have the invaluable social impact of putting smallholder farmers, who form over 90 percent of the exchange’s aggregation transactions and produce over 80 percent of our national food supply, in the spotlight as an addressable market segment.” The launch followed a workshop hosted by AFEX in Lagos which brought together over 90 corporates and startups in the finance and technology sectors to interact with agriculture entrepreneurs to co-create a functional prototype for collaboration that nurtures the competitiveness of the agribusiness sector. The workshop was organized in partnership with Dalberg Advisors, a globa

 Mr. Adamu Musa, National Organising Secretary, National Tomato Growers, Processors and Marketers Association of Nigeria, has said government’s various policies on agriculture have enriched more farmers in the last two years than any other period in Nigeria’s history.   President Muhammadu Buhari Musa who said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Mararaba, Nasarawa State, recently noted that the acceptance and participation of Nigerians in the Federal Government agricultural policy had made many farmers richer in the last two years than they were. According to him, farmers are smiling to the banks because the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has given a lot of support and has made farming lucrative through subsidies. “President Muhammadu Buhari has a strong agenda for agriculture to improve the lives of indigenous farmers. In many villages today in Nigeria, there are farmers who could not boast of N1 million before the coming of

The Federal Government has said plans are underway to restructure the Bank of Agriculture (BoA) as part of an effort to make it easier for Nigerian farmers to access credit facilities on offer in the bank.   Chief Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, who announced this at the Ministerial Press Briefing on the celebration of the World Food Day in Abuja, stated that the process of restructuring BoA has commenced. He explained that the bank will be reorganised to stimulate an increased interest of people in farming as a source of livelihood and for effective performance through the provision of credit facilities to agribusiness in the country. He condemned the high-interest rate charged on loans by commercial banks, saying that the agriculture sector cannot survive more years of lending money at 25 percent to farmers. Ogbeh said the vision and mission of the ministry include to e